2013 assembly elections begins in the state, chief minister Raman Singh is all set to go on a populist mode,Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh out to woo farmers.

RAIPUR:30 Jan 2013

As the countdown to the 2013 assembly elections begins in the state, chief minister Raman Singh is all set to go on a populist mode and is likely to announce several sops to woo various sections of the society.

The highlight of these sops is likely to be the Rs 240 bonus on the MSP of paddy for the year 2013-14.

If sources close to the chief minister are to be believed, Raman Singh and other senior party leaders are "seriously" contemplating the massive hike in MSP to woo the farmers. If it was the Rs 3 per kg rice and Rs 10 per litre Kerosene for BPL families' scheme that helped Raman Singh romp home victorious in 2008, he is all set to play his "pro farmers" card, hoping to turn the tables on the Congress once again and score a hat trick.

The 2008 cheap rice and kerosene scheme was specifically announced to target pool rural voters, who constitute 42 per cent of the BPL population. With Chhattisgarh, also know an the rice bowl of the country, producing 19116 varieties of rice and 80% of population relying on agriculture, the Rs 240 bonus on paddy could mean a lot and possibly be Raman Singh's trump card.

The state is already paying a bonus of Rs 50 on the MSP and if it hikes it by another Rs 200, the additional burden on the exchequer would be anywhere close to Rs 115 crores (based on last year's procurement of 60 lakhs metric tones). The government agencies had procured close to 60 lakh MT in 2011-12 and this figure is likely to be higher as production has exceeded by near 20% this fiscal. As compared to 95 lakh MT production in the last fiscal, the output has been 110 lakh MT this year.

With still few more days to go for the Kharif procurement to be over, the government agencies expect to procure 64 lakh tones. According to officials of the 60 lakh MT procured last year, 43 lakh MT was converted to rice of which 16 lakh MT was picked up by FCI and 27 lakh MT was sent to the civil supplies department for PDS.